Users commonly provide video content to websites (e.g., YouTube®), which can be referred to as “posting a video.” For example, the user can associate a title, a static thumbnail image, and/or a textual description with the video. Other users (e.g., viewers) can access and view this content via the websites. For example, the viewers can see a video's title and static thumbnail of the video before deciding whether to play the full video. However, the viewers may find it difficult to select particular videos of interest because the title may not be descriptive of the contents of the video, the static thumbnail image may not summarize the essence of the video, or the textual description with the video may be a poor signal for whether the video will be interesting to the viewer. Thus, the viewers may spend significant amounts of time searching and watching videos that are not enjoyable to the viewer.
Additionally, if the viewer selects and starts watching a video, it often takes the viewer a significant amount of time before the viewer can determine whether they like the video and want to keep watching, or whether they want to select another video. When the videos are relatively short (e.g., 3 minutes), the viewer may watch a substantial portion of the video before they can determine whether they would be interested in viewing the video. This process can often be frustrating to a viewers who are accustomed to instant gratification provided by other consumer internet services, and the viewers may stop watching internet videos because it takes too long for them to find an interesting video to watch.